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Amsterdam Active Hope Circles : A Story of Regenerative Connections and Shared Transformation

In January 2023, I started an Active Hope Circle in Amsterdam to enhance our ecological consciousness and nurture a regenerative culture in my little corner of the world. I had no idea this circle—and a core group of people—would continue the journey with me for 1.5 years, until this summer, and still thrive even after my move to Switzerland. Its been a joy to witness the power of this work to build community and lasting support and inspiration.

As the year draws to a close, I am filled with deep gratitude and awe reflecting on the incredible journey we’ve shared. This blog post is a celebration of the community we co-created together, of the joy, creativity, and strength we cultivated through these gatherings, and of the lasting impact they’ve had.

From the very beginning, my intention was to create a space where  changemakers could come together in the spirit of deep ecology—reconnecting with ourselves, with nature, and with each other. . I hoped to empower us to face today’s challenges with resilience and creativity, offering Active Hope as a guiding light. Together, we’ve nurtured ourselves and supported one another in embodying a regenerative culture that ripples out to inspire positive change beyond our circles.

Here are some heartfelt testimonials from participants sharing the story of our journey, our growth, and the magic we’ve co-created together.

“Being part of this ‘tribe’ is the biggest gift I have given myself in terms of self-development and learning. Those times when I feel I am freezing due to climate change anxiety, this spiral makes sure I feel reconnected and calm. Empowering me to think and act creatively—and undertake initiatives I otherwise wouldn’t dare or take the time for.” – Noor

“I am amazed at the strength of this work to bring people together and organically grow a connected inspiring community.” – Esther

“I feel so very grateful for this experience and this circle. Being outside and doing ritual together created for me the most profound experiences and memories. It creates an additional dimension when we are held and guided by the trees and plants around us. I have very special memories of our walk around the gardens and the campfire. Also, the evolutionary practices are very profound for me. Going through all the steps in evolution and imagining roaming around 1000 years ago. I want to continue having this as part of my life. Marjorie, you really embody this connection with the earth and your guidance was deeply nurturing.” Sarah

“I’m participating a second time in the ‘Active Hope’ spirals with Marjorie. Marjorie creates a safe space, where we land, look around us with curious eyes, and feel close to nature and also to those around us—we reconnect with all that we forget about during our ‘busy’ days.”

“Thanks to the Active Hope circle, I dared to put myself out there. I dared at work to put more of my ‘female’ warm side in the work, and ask for emotions from my colleagues/clients on how they felt about reaching their environmental targets. I dared in my private life, starting conversations at the dining table, practicing Active Hope exercises with groups of friends weekends away. Taking my friends outside on a walk and feeling the nature with eyes closed. I have a better understanding of my purpose in life and strengths: connecting people with the beauty of nature and people you didn’t know before. We are all connected, let’s take care of each other.” – Noor

“It was a wonderful experience to spend almost one year getting to know how to better connect with nature and humans. Marjorie’s passion and authenticity glued us together, she is naturally in sync with nature and can share it with the wisdom of an ancestor. I enjoyed the calmness and self-awareness, the clarity of her sharings.” – Sofia

“I had a very warm and heart-filling experience in all sessions. I always went home with stillness and hope inside myself. It felt like a safe space which allowed me to open slowly. In the winter, it was hard for me to keep my optimism to see the darkness outside, but the circles helped me to find warmth within myself.” – Deepali

“I really treasure the time I had with Marjorie and this group. We truly became a small community. I really valued being around people who look at ‘sustainability’ in a more holistic, spiritual, and systems way of seeing the world. I felt held and nourished.” – Esther

“These Active Hope circles are a way to ensure I take time monthly to reconnect with community, nature, and myself. It has been a deeply nourishing experience, filled with joy and creativity.” – Juliette

“I love your calm, humble yet deep presence. I think you find a good balance between guiding the process and creating space for people to share and for what wants to emerge. You are very present and at the same time in the background to give people the space they need to share and express. I just love your presence and calm and steady way of being. I hope you realize how powerful your work and the way you bring it is.” – Esther

“This more feminine way of sharing feels so good and safe that we can all share our knowledge with each other in a very equal manner. Feels very different than the patriarchal way—it strengthens each individual’s gifts and invites us to bring these out into the world. Your presence, Marjorie, and enthusiasm and warmth were so nurturing. I feel really sad that you are leaving. You really inspire me and your courage to lead these circles and all your interests and love you have inside. That we can be so vulnerable with each other. This was really thanks to your presence and warmth.” – Sarah

“I was surprised by how in such a short time we really became a little community. I was also moved when so many people started to bring songs of their own and share—so many levels of co-creation!” – Anneke

“You have a welcoming presence which helps us all to ground ourselves. I loved all the grounding meditations, they are so precious. And the way to guide them really is something I wish you continue always.” – Deepali

“It keeps my connection with life alive. It keeps me sane in a very nice, nourishing, joyful, peaceful way.” – Juliette

“What I enjoyed so much about this group is the way we spend time together: sharing deep thoughts, sharing silence, sharing wonder and awe, just being together, drawing, dancing, walking together, sharing our passions and the questions we are exploring. It is just simply a way of being together that feels very easy, meaningful, joyful, simple, and loving. All at the same time. It made me realize how much I enjoy this way of being together and that I want my life and the time I spend with groups to look more and more like this.” – Juliette

I am filled with deep gratitude for each person who joined this journey and enabled the circles to exist as they did—through their unique contributions and co-creations. And the fire is still burning strong. Join a fireside evening in “our” green heaven in Amsterdam here

After 15 years in Amsterdam, life led me and my family to Terre Sainte, Switzerland. After a few months of landing, grounding, and connecting with this beautiful region, I am beginning to sow seeds for this work here. Inspired by the land and the people I’ve begun to meet, I am committed to carrying forward the teachings of Active Hope and The Work That Reconnects—to spread this work in our commune, in schools and organizations, to start new circles, and to nurture the kind of regenerative culture that supports both personal and collective transformation.

My heart is open to what will emerge here. For now, it is time to rest, reflect, recharge, and dream into the Winter Solstice and the end-of-year festivities.

Active Hope Circle – Honouring our Pain

Grateful for a beautiful, connecting and heart-opening Active Hope Gathering.✨
Feeling cracked open and so nourished by the deep ecology practices we engaged in with a beautiful group of change-makers, regenerating the land, transforming education, leading the energy transition, healers, artists and activists.
I’ve been looking for fertile ground to share this work and finally these intentions are manifesting, the work is magically finding the right people, moving to where it’s most needed.
Honored to initiate and guide this process and co-create together. Grateful to my many teachers, soul connections, support along the way allowing me to align to this new path I have been called to. 🙏
Yesterday after opening with a gratitude prayer “The Words that come before All Else” from the Haudosenee people (their gift to the world supporting us to remember what is sacred), we moved into the second stage of the Spiral 🌀 Honouring our Pain with an inquiry, a circle dance, a profound grief ritual with such touching sharing of our pain for the world. We ended the evening singing, my heart is full with all the beautiful songs shared honouring the Earth and our wild nature, so healing to sing together with intention, simple and powerful ❤️🙏✨
One particularly touching moment was hearing a man in the circle voice how it was time perhaps for men to pause and listen to the women, he recognized the deep connection of women with the land. It was such a gift beyond words to receive his words.
And totally aligned with my path of harmonizing with the Earth and diving deeper into the feminine.
Enjoying the journey and all the places it is taking me.
You can join our last gatherings before the summer or autumn circles, please email me marjorie@experiencemindfulness.nl for more details.

The Web of Life – A work that Reconnects meditation

Do you walk through life with deep appreciation and awareness of everything that sustains your life? The Earth that carries you, the air that fills you with life energy, the soil that nourishes you, the sun that warms you, the trees that offer cool, fresh air, timeless beauty and wisdom, your numberless ancestors laying the foundations on which you rest, billions of years of evolution weaved into your body, brain, nervous system. Who we are and what we do today as a species will determine the foundations on which future generations lay on for better or worse.

Imagine if we actually evolved daily with awareness of and reverence for this interconnectedness, the world today would look pretty different… it is time to integrate this knowledge and let it be our compass as we move forward in these chaotic times.

Here’s a meditation to integrate awareness of this interconnectedness inspired by Joanna Macy’s amazing work.

Live with the world inside of you, appreciating the rich heritage you inherited simply by being Human now and create conditions nurturing the well-being of future generations.

Marjorie Lumet on Instagram: “The Web of Life meditation Inspired by Joanna Macy – The Work that Reconnects This meditation invites us to sense deeply our…”

#interconnectedness #protectingLife

Active Hope – The Cairn of Mourning practice

I am currently following a training with Chris Johnstone & Madeleine Young to facilitate Active Hope Circles. This training will come to an end before the summer and it is my intention to start hosting regular Active Hope Circles in Amsterdam in the near future .

I shared the “Cairn of Mourning” practice together with one fellow trainee last week.

This practice in essence consists in spending some time (ideally outdoors) reflecting on the following question: What is being lost in our world that you mourn for?

As strange as it may seem for the uninitiated, having a space to mourn and share our pain for the world is perhaps the most powerful way to wake up and feel our interconnectedness, to start healing individually and collectively and to free us to take meaningful action or to continue doing so without burning out.

In this post, I wish to share with you some of what came up for me in this particular Cairn of Mourning practice I did recently. Sharing this is a gift to the Life within and around us. So here goes, prepare the tissues …

I mourn the loss of fresh air, clean water and healthy soil. I mourn the loss of purity of air, water, earth that we as humans have caused through our industries adding toxicity to all that is offered to us, sustaining our Life. I mourn that instead of appreciating and taking care, being guardians of these amazing elemental offerings we suffocate Life including our own human bodies made mostly of water, air and earth. I mourn the loss of vitality, the destruction of habitat, the disappearance of species happening at an unprecedented rate, almost 1000 times quicker than before we humans appeared. I mourn that these species aren’t properly mourned, that they disappear in a huge silence in the midst of our frenetic lives often unfolding in corporate towers through all sorts of digitalised devices.

I mourn that our activity and way of life has destroyed most wild mammals, 83% are the latest statistics I remember. I mourn that our once beautiful oceans are now overfished and full of toxic plastic that will linger there for hundreds of years. I mourn the loss of over half of the world’s colourful and magnificent corals due to the warming ocean, the loss of 90% of big fish and countless others.

I mourn that we spend more time on screens than outdoors. I mourn that we are so busy and disconnected that we barely take the time to pause and feel deeply what is happening to our world. I mourn our loss of freedom, we have become slaves to systems and modes of consumerism that do not serve us and are largely destructive. I mourn the many humans who suffer the consequences of “modern” lifestyles, the poor, the oppressed, the displaced, the indigenous people, the victims of climate change, of conflict, of discrimination.

beginner'smindI mourn the loss of wilderness, the loss of untouched natural spaces where one can go and not hear a human sound or the sound of some human-made machine for days. I mourn the melting ice, the flooded regions, disappearing under the rising oceans, the many lush and ancient forests being burned away, the desertification of so many regions losing their natural fertility due to rising temperatures, the loss of habitats, the loss of beauty, the loss of softness, the loss of feminine values, the oppression of the feminine, the disrespect of women who are sacred givers of Life, the loss of value we place in care and nurturing, the loss of treading lightly on this beautiful planet that is our mother, the source of all Life. I mourn the loss of life, the destruction of Life that we are causing directly through violence and wars or indirectly through the modern industrial lives we have created and come to think of as normal.

I mourn with all the fellow humans who have the courage to stop, to feel how much they really care. I mourn the loss of intimacy and community and places to mourn as well as places to celebrate, give thanks and rejoice through song and dance.

I mourn that we suppress and numb feelings of helplessness, despair, fear, sadness grief when faced with the state of our world. These feelings are natural and healthy, they make us human. Feeling them allows life intelligence to flow. It takes a lot of energy to suppress and numb then and cuts us off from our power to respond appropriately to the challenges we face.

I mourn the loss of meaning of what it means to be alive, to be a human at this particular time, to belong to this world.  

What is it that is being lost in the world that you mourn? I would like to hear and receive that and make space for your process. I know how much moving through our pain opens us to Life.

Our mourning is natural and healthy. Our tendency to resist pain is dangerous. Through numbing our pain, we cut ourselves from our life energy and our ability to respond appropriately to the challenges we face.. It is very draining to suppress difficult emotions & overtime causes dysfunction and disease.  When we allow ourselves to feel it all, Life flows again in us and all around, our hearts break open, we get in touch with the depth of our longing and from this incredible creativity can arise.